Chechen officials, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters and their instructors have removed negative comments about a Russian fighter, the President of the Mixed Martial Arts Russian Union, Fedor Emelianenko in social networks.

On October 7, on his Instagram page, Ramzan Kadyrov urged everyone to leave Emelianenko alone.

The latter had earlier criticized the participation of children under 12 years in the matches as part of Grand-Prix Akhmat 2016 Final tournament, which took place on October 4 in Grozny. Kadyrov sons also participated in the fighting.

Emelianenko's statements have given rise to criticism from all over the Chechen Republic. The President of Akhmat fight club Abuzayd Vismuradov, the State Duma Deputy Adam Delimkhanov, the Speaker of the Chechen parliament Magomed Daudov and other people advised the President of the MMA Union to "mind his own business", and "show care of younger brother."

At the request of the Republic Head, Vismuradov and Delimkhanov have removed the posts addressed to Emelianenko (Daudov's post is still available on social network page). Sayid Nurmagomedov's post with the following wording has also been deleted from his Instagram account: "Fedor Emelianenko! Shame on you. I thought you supported MMA's development, but I was wrong."

Many current and former Russian athletes, including Aleksandr Shlemenko, Vitaly Minakov, Oleg Taktarov, Nikolay Valuev, Batu Khasikov, Grigory Drozd, Ruslan Provodnikov, Andrey Koreshkov, Natalya Ragozina, Rasul Bokiev, and Sergey Ovchinnikov, supported Emelianenko. There also appeared an online petition in his defense, which has already been signed by over 80 thousand people.